This weekend (Saturday 18 – Sunday 19 September) sees the return of the ever-popular Wokingham Arts Trail, with local artists opening their homes and studio spaces to showcase their work at venues across the borough.

And this year is going to be even better as Wokingham’s newest gallery space, R Young Art at Elms Field, is opening up to take part in the event.

“It’s great to see another fantastic business coming to the town centre,” said Cllr Stuart Munro, executive member for business and economic development. “The owner, Richard Young, is an incredibly talented artist and we were impressed by his vision for the new gallery which is set to showcase original artwork and prints, from a range of fantastic artists and sculptors.

“The Arts Trail is the perfect time to pop in and see some of Richard’s artwork for yourself, as well as to find out more about what he has planned for the coming months. It’s also an opportunity to check out some of the other great local artists taking part with several venues close to the town centre, as well as in Woodley, Crowthorne and Lower Earley.”

Opening in the Plaza area, close to the Everyman Cinema, the R Young Art Gallery joins a range of other independent businesses at the regenerated Elms Field including the neighbouring new microbrewery The Outhouse Brewery, as well as Peacock House Interiors and This Little Piggy children’s clothing store, on Elms Walk close to Aldi and the park.

In addition to running exhibitions, the new gallery will also be offering a range of services such as framing and fine arts commission work, arts coaching and events to help people improve their skills. Alongside this R Young Art will also offer a professional scanning and printing service, working with artists to help them produce high quality prints of their own work, drawing on Richard’s years of producing his own prints which are sold across the world.

Cllr Munro continued: “Wokingham is an incredibly cultural and creative borough, and we really want to develop this further. The past few years have seen us adopt a new Cultural Strategy for the borough, establish the Cultural Alliance to bring different arts and culture groups together and even create the Wocca App to promote what’s happening locally. We’re also investing in making sure new facilities, like the Carnival Hub, will support flexible cultural use such as the new hall which can be converted into a 400-seat performance space for events.

“A growing number of businesses from the arts and culture sector are choosing to locate to the area, such as the offshoot of the British Museum, and the new film studios both at Arborfield and at Shinfield. It’s something we are very keen to support as it brings real opportunities to the area with job creation and investment for years to come.”

Wokingham Arts Trail runs from Saturday 18 – Sunday 19 September from 10:30 – 17:30 each day. Information on venues and artists taking place can be found on their website at www.wokinghamartstrail.co.uk